Prof. Dr. Marian Burchardt

Areas of interest

Religious diversity

Secularity and governmentality in immigrant societies

Sociology of knowledge

Sociology of religion

Urban sociology and theories of modernity

Research project

Marian Burchardt's current research focuses on social and institutional responses to migration-driven religious diversity and is divided into two lines of investigation. First, he explores how nation-building shapes the governance of religious diversity in Quebec and Catalonia, and how the responses to religious diversity draw on and mobilise narratives of secular nationhood. Secondly, he explores the urban politics and cultural dynamics around Pentecostal Christianity in Cape Town. In particular, he examines Pentecostal notions of space, and looks at how claims to space are understood and legitimated through Christian idioms.